Group Insurance

A group insurance policy is sold to an organization of people who share a common interest. This organization may be a corporation, union, trade association, club, religious society, or any other identifiable collection of people an insurance company is willing to recognize as a "group."

Benefits. Because the group has power in numbers, it can usu­ally get insurance coverage for less cost per individual and/or family than would be obtainable if the insurance shoppers were buying on their own.
In addition to reduced premiums, there are other health in­surance benefits to joining a group. These include the following.

Preexisting conditions are likely to be covered. As we will discuss in more detail, many health insurance policies will exclude iden­tified medical conditions that existed prior to the health insurance going into effect. These are called preexisting conditions. Many people who have had the misfortune to experience serious illness find that exclusions for preexisting conditions often keep them from reaching the promised land of health insurance coverage.

Often, the only way around this difficulty is to somehow join a group that is large enough to have negotiated a concession from the insurance carrier whereby the company gives up the right to exclude such preexisting conditions. This concession is often the difference between obtaining coverage or risking health and pros­perity as a member of the unfortunate uninsured.

Medical exams are often not required. Health insurance com­panies, like life insurance companies, usually require a close look into the health of the individual applicant during the under­writing of the application. This can include a physical exami­nation. Group members often are able to obtain insurance without this investigation into their health.

Benefits are frequently higher. The negotiating power of a group, especially a large group, often allows members to receive better total benefits at a lower out-of-pocket price, not only in terms of premiums but also with regard to expenses that individuals must pay themselves.

Deductibles are lower. People can afford lower deductibles be­cause the group pays a lower rate overall, and a lower deductible means less money out of your pocket should you need to file a claim.

NOTE: Small groups frequently have difficulties similar to in­dividual insurance shoppers. Letters received by the Center for the Study of Responsive Law attest to this fact. Here's an excerpt from one such letter sent by Richard Darby, of Holmdel, New Jersey:

My wife and a friend currently have a small manufacturing business and applied for group medical insurance. . . . The only medical item reported to them on the application was a small cancerous mole that was removed from my wife's part­ner's back five years ago. Exams each year have proved negative and still they (insurance companies) will not consider anyone in the group [emphasis added].

Moreover, N1CO president J. Robert Hunter has testified that insurance companies are now using age as a criterion of pricing, thereby doing away with universal premium pricing within the group. This could, in turn, lead to increased age discrimination in employment. Hunter also reports that members of small groups are increasingly having all preexisting conditions excluded from coverage.

This is a shameful state of affairs. People need access to health care, and too often our system of private insurance doesn't give it to them.

golden caisno. Totally slot machines tips, strategies, casino reviews and more3. cheap phentermine